Not eating too much?

[Ven]

Hi guys! I have a Veiled Chameleon, he's a male.
I've had him for about 2 years.
He hasn't been eating too much lately. We used to put some crickets in a cup and then he would just snatch them up from there.
It came to a point where he would miss and just give up on eating them.
Now we let the crickets out and roam the cage, yet he still doesn't eat them because he misses them.
It's like he gives up.
His cage is pretty big, I don't know the exact dimensions but it should be perfect for how big he is.
It's a screened cage. I mist him manually and feed him crickets.
Is there anything wrong? We just moved him to a new cage but he used to do that with the old one. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[carol5208]

please fill out the form so we can try and figure out what is going on. He could be having a problem with his eyesight and that is why he is missing the crickets. Could be a vitamin A deficiency. Can you not hand feed him and put the crickets rights up to his mouth so he can eat? Have you not fed him any other feeders in the two years you have had him besides crickets? https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/

 

[Ven]

Info

- Veiled Chameleon, Male, He's about 2 years old and few months I don't know exactly. I've had him for 2 years.
- Ever since he moved to his new cage we rarely handle him.
- Live crickets about 9 per day. 5 in the morning and 4 in the afternoon.
- They eat this Vitamin C orange cubes.
- We mist him manually with a water-spray. About twice a day. Every time we feed. We usually don't see him drinking. We also leave some pieces of ice above the cage so water can drip down.
- There are no changes in his feces, they've been the same and he has no been parasite tested. The colors are just a dark brown and with some white in it.
- Previous information would be that he has had no problems other than a sperm plug in his butt that was removed and never found there again.

- Screen cage, I don't know about the dimensions but I know for sure that it's suitable for him, if you really really need the dimensions please ask and I can say them.
- They're ExoTerra lights. I have 2 on him. We turn them on in the morning and turn them off at night.
- I would say the basking Temp would be at 80 something. We have thermometers that calculate Temp and Humidity.
- When we mist we keep it humid, as I said there's a humidity thermometer.
- We're not using live plants. They're fake.
- It's near a window, it's nowhere noisy nor hot nor super cold. I'd say it's about 1 meter and a half from the floor. Just estimating.
- We're in Florida. It's super cold right now. It's been like this for 5 days or so.

Current Concern: He is just not eating. He is missing the crickets and not eating normally. Help?

 

[szpond]

I see you did not list supplements, are you using any sort of dust for your feeders?

Also, what type of lights? Bulbs, wattage, etc?

This will help us help you.

 

[szpond]

Forgot to mention, picture are always lovely.

 

[Ven]

I don't use a dust, the guy at Petsmart said the orange cubes give the crickets the same vitamin that the dust gives them.

I can't provide right now how much wattage do the bulbs have but if you're willing to wait till tomorrow, since it's night time here, I can provide the cage picture and the wattage and what kind of bulbs as well

 

[szpond]

I don't use a dust, the guy at Petsmart said the orange cubes give the crickets the same vitamin that the dust gives them.

I can't provide right now how much wattage do the bulbs have but if you're willing to wait till tomorrow, since it's night time here, I can provide the cage picture and the wattage and what kind of bulbs as well

Unfortunately he is misinformed. The orange cube diet is actually lacking in proper gut-load nutrients...

Some pictures would be lovely and we'll definitely take a look tomorrow. As for now, check out this veiled care sheet that this website offers:

https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/caresheets/veiled/

It is possible that you have been misinformed on some other care as well.

Following that sheet, it is a necessity that your chameleon get 3 separate supplements - Calcium without vitamin D3, Calcium with vitamin D3, and a multivitamin. I use Rep-Cal that you can get at PetSmart, but they do not carry a calcium without D3, so you may need to order it.

Unfortunately I am predicting that your chameleon may suffer from a calcium deficiency due to the symptoms you have named.

Also, did you have a UVB light source as well as a heat lamp? Or were they two heat lamps? It's been recommended to change the UVB bulbs every 6 months or so to ensure they are emitting the proper amount of UVB.
Hope I am helping.

 

[Ven]

Cage and more Info

Okay so I have a picture of the cage, it's dimensions, and pictures of the cricket food.
The dimensions are
Length: 3 feet
Height: 4 1/2 feet
Width: 2 feet

The picture put here is the cage.
And both those pictures is what the crickets eat.
If the lack of vitamins is the problem I'll go and buy some first thing in the morning. Thanks for the help.

About the lights, my father has changed them here and there so I'm not positive about having both UVB and UVA bulbs. I'll make sure to check that in the morning as well.

 

[Alexl]

First about feeding, which seems to be a major problem: 9 adult sized insects a day (about 50-60 a week!) is a lot too much for an adult male. Even 20 a week would be too much. Overfeeding can cause fat liver, renal diseases, gout etc., so please cut down feeding immediately to a healthy amount and let him have more days without food than with. Chameleons are reptiles, not mammals, which means they're digesting slower and need at least 70% less energy cause they don't keep their body temperature. They don't starve on days without food, but always eat as much as they can if offered. That's their heritage of the wild and we can't train our chameleons to lose this behaviour. But we can feed them restrictively keeping this in mind. I'm quite sure your chameleon unfortunately already has very large abdominal fat pads, probably a beginning fat liver and other problems if fed like this 'til now. Please read the information given about supplementing, that's very important to optimize, too.

Second I would recommend to bring your chameleon to your reptile vets and let them check blood calcium levels, kidney and liver values. An x-ray could be helpful, but blood would be - personally - my first step to get a good overview about the real situation of your chameleon.

 

[DavidBuchan]

Hello and welcome to the forum . I agree with all the advice you have been given so far. I just want to add a link to the 'Gutloading Bible'.....sandrachameleons blog is brilliant! - https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/75-feeder-nutrition-gutloading.html

 

[Ven]

Back.

Hi guys I'm back with a bit more updates than last time.
We bought dust with d3 + and a previous chameleon owner that works at petsmart told me and my mother that the reason he wasn't eating is because he's missing vitamins. We have never given him Vitamin A and recently started about 5 days ago. We give him Fluker's Liquid Vitamin with a lot of Vitamin A, we had to weigh him and give him 2 drop per 50g. Yet my veiled is still not eating. We keep seeing the same crickets in his cage.

Anyone have anything that can help me and my little veiled?

 

[Tzimisces]

I would take him to the vet. It may be parasites or it could be any of the other various maladies mentioned in previous posts. To be certain, a vet will be able to help...sorry its probably what you were not wanting, but thats the best advice i can give...